Reader @AeroLance recently asked me which credit cards are safe for manufactured spending and I thought that question was worth addressing in a post. Over the last eight years, I’ve earned points and miles with lots of different rewards credit cards.
Most of those points were earned via manufactured spending, mainly by churning merchant and Visa gift cards. I’ve found some banks to be more amenable to it than others, but keep in mind that can change.
Everyone’s situation is different and an MS-friendly bank could turn unfriendly in a second. Below is a summary of credit cards that have been target safe for manufactured spending:
Banks that don’t have a big rewards credit card line-up
In general, the safest credit cards for manufactured spending are those affiliated with banks that don’t have a lot of rewards credit cards. I’m talking about Bank of America, Capital One, and Discover. They don’t have the same massive credit card line-up as Chase and American Express.
Because of that, chances are they don’t have as many customers racking up spend and driving up costs in order to generate more miles. If large numbers of customers began manufacturing spend in huge numbers, that wouldn’t be sustainable and lead to shutdowns.
There are exceptions, of course. From the start U.S. Bank has been pretty vigilant about guarding against “abuse.” They made it extremely difficult to obtain a Club Carlson Visa and shut down customers using the Altitude Reserve card to churn gift cards.
So just because a bank has a small line-up of rewards credit cards, that does not mean it’s 100% safe for manufactured spending. I have used both the rebranded Radisson Rewards Visa and SkyPass Card from U.S. bank to earn miles and points over the years. I just make sure to follow a few rules:
A few basic guidelines to avoid credit card shut-downs
I’ve followed three basic rules over the years and they’ve served me well: 1.) Don’t cycle credit lines. 2.) Don’t spend more than your stated annual income on a single credit card. 3.) Don’t use Walmart Bill Pay to pay off credit card balances.
I know what you’re thinking: “You did use Walmart Bill Pay to off credit card balances!” After years of sticking by this rule, I got a little lax with the rules and started paying my Barclay Arrival Plus Cards off with Walmart Bill Pay. The result? All of my Barclay credit cards were shut down. Do as I say, not as I did.
Now you could well follow these rules and get shut down anyway. Maybe for some reason I’m not aware of. But these are precautions I’ve personally taken to avoid shut-downs and it’s worked well. Except when I violated #3.
I recently got a little reckless with rule #2 and ended up getting a letter from Bank of America. It pointed out that I seem to be spending almost as much as my income and to call them if any of my spending was unauthorized.
Just to be safe, I’m cooling it with the Bank of America Alaska card for a while. It’s not worth a shut-down.
Be nice to Chase, don’t make Amex mad
No other bank can compete with Chase when it comes to its rewards credit cards. Chase has the best airline, hotel, and flexible reward credit cards.
Not to mention the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal is one of the best ways to book hotels and airfare for less. So you really don’t want to alienate Chase by overdoing it with manufactured spending.
Stick to the rules I outlined above. Diversify all of your spending so you’re not just using your Chase card to buy gift cards from the same merchant, over and over again.
I personally don’t care that much about American Express. I love the Hilton Honors Aspire Card and occasionally use the Amex Everyday Preferred when I need Membership Rewards points. But I don’t go out of my way to earn them and if Amex ever shuts me down, I’ll live.
You may feel differently, in which case you should be careful with your American Express cards. That means meeting spending requirements without manufactured spending and following the rules I outlined above.
Amex is known to send out Financial Reviews that can get quite tedious. Avoid it by just playing it cool. Or don’t. It might still work out for you.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, there isn’t really a 100% “safe” credit card for manufactured spending. But in my experience, the banks with fewer rewards cards are less likely to shut you down.
With that in mind, you should still follow some basic rules and avoid excessive spending on a single credit card. And stay away from Walmart Bill Pay.
In your experience, which credit cards have been the most MS-friendly?
Not sure I’d put BoA in the ‘safe’ category. I was shutdown by BoA recently. http://millionmileguy.com/bank-of-america-shutdown/
Couldn’t agree more…BoA will quickly drop the hammer and shut you down along with Cap One Spark….
Do you mind sharing the details about capital one spark shutdown?
Uh oh.. I’m working on my Spark Miles $50k spend right now. I’m very interested too…
I wouldn’t put the whole $50k on there. Nowadays, I’m hardly ever meeting spending requirements via MS. It’s tough with such a huge amount like yours, but definitely work in some normal spending. And try not to cycle your credit line (if possible),
Thanks for the heads up, Jeffrey. Bofa definitely used to be much safer. The letter I got (plus your feedback) is making me rethink how aggressively I MS.
Chase DNGAF about MS. Every year people max out their cat bonuses across multiple CICs, never a problem. Just about everything works to meet MSR on Chase: Venmo, GC sites, places that report L3.
They most definitely do. They have been on their affiliates for years about not promoting MS content. PatMike got shut down a couple of years ago for MS’ing with Vanilla Reloads. I think she was spending like $300k+ per year.
They care in the sense that every bank cares about people not gaming the system. Active policing from Chase in this day and age is extraordinarily rare. Like I said, there are countless DPs of people meeting SUBs from GCM, Simon, Venmo, and places that report L3.
I know several people who were shut down by Chase over the last year. It’s something people should be aware of. Especially since Chase is the most valuable player in the rewards credit card game.
If so, please give details so we know what exactly they were doing wrong (velocity, L3, cancel card under 1 year, etc?). And yes we all agree Chase is a valuable player.
I was shutdown by Barclay on all my cars including Arrival +. They even cancelled me as an authorized user. I believe my mistake was against rule 1. My CL was 30K, but I was only spending about 20K of that, but as I would flush the cards, I would make payments of $2K, $5K several times during the month. Bingo, card was shutdown, along with all the others. I was just trying to manage the impact of having a 20K bill against a 30K CL and the impact on credit score. Dumb me.
Barclays has gotten stricter, but I’m surprised they shut you down for that reason. Everyone makes mistakes and you can recover from this.
Suprised they did that, I cycle my limit monthly just mix organic random spend in as well not just gcm purchases. Did you buy a lot from Simon or gift card mall?
I had alot of organic spend on the card and used it as my primary everyday card. Most of gift cards were from gift card mall, but not more than about 20K per month. It was the cycling that got me. It was easy, get the cards, go to Walmart, go to WF, and 2 days later pay the CC. I would do this about 4x per month.
We all had a chuckle when we saw the video of your family in NZ gettubg shot into pieces execution style allah ackbared LoL
If by “all” you mean the imaginary friends living with you in mom’s basement, I’m glad. More MS posts to come – I know how much you love them!
Also, I’m not above kicking your ass. Name the time and place.
How do you deposit MOs in your own account? Do you just sign as the purchaser?
You say US Bank shut down customers using the Altitude Reserve card to churn gift cards. Was that mobile wallet due to the 3x or any gift card churning?
I heard gift card churning.
This is scary lol I am trying to reach Hyatt globalist through MS which is around 130k spend so i am doing 10k a week and cycling my credit twice a month. I guess i better watch out huh ?
I would personally avoid cycling my credit limit. But do what you feel comfortable with.
mind disclosing where and how you are liquidating 10k/week? ;o vgc -> bluebird/serve/mo?
Haha you people are pitiful. How about putting this much effort into making more money? With the dedication that you all posses you can make more money and pay for these travels. You guys are robbing upgrade and award availability from the people like me who actually put in the body in bed, ass in seat, and real, organic high spend on cards. Don’t you feel guilty or that you don’t belong there when you book fancy flights and hotels with your undeserved points?
Can you be any more entitled? If you’re earning miles via organic spending on cards and flying first class, I don’t know what you’re complaining about. But ok, we’ll all just work more and spending $20k on international first-class seats. Sounds like a great use of money.
I’m not buying it. First there’s your name. Second, your use of ‘organic’ means you’ve been here a while. Third, what are you doing here in the first place? Fourth, the real rich, in getting rich, develop a mindset that precludes condescension and typically have world-wisdom to understand the breadth of human behavior. I call BS.
I am retired. Back in the day when I travelled for business I amassed over 1 million miles on Delta and AA and nearly the same on UA with my butt in a seat. I got over 3MM Marriott points during that time. It was alot easier getting those points when the company paid for the trips and I got the miles and points. Most all of those points are now gone either through my use, or through gifts to all family members. It is you guys that travel all the time for business that are taking up those nice seats I want. It looks completely different once you retire.
Nope, not a single guilty thought and I do belong there. I did not cheat or steal, but played within the rules of the CC company. Nothing wrong with that. I just wonder how the guy, his wife, and 3 kids are all sitting in Business Class.
Additionally, I try and not let MS alter how I go about my daily business.
Well said John.
Yeah as you mentioned you traveled for business meaning it didnt come out of your pocket to get those miles you flake !
Hi how about the citi double cash card? I may purchase some of these $1000 simon mall vgcs. Should I stay away from my max CL (around $14k)? Thanks.